Blast hit US-led coalition convoy in Afghan south

KABUL, June 20 (Reuters) A roadside bomb hit a convoy of US-led coalition troops today in Afghanistan's southern province of Kandahar, but there were no immediate reports of casualties, residents said.

A spokesman for the coalition in the south confirmed that a blast struck a car in the convoy on the main road leading to the airport, just outside the Kandahar city, which is used by the coalition forces.

The incident comes amid the bloodiest phase of insurgency led by Taliban guerrillas since coalition troops overthrew the militants' government in 2001.

The Islamist guerrillas have stepped attacks in the south ahead of the NATO taking over from the US forces and coalition troops have launched their biggest offensive in the region, since 2001 invasion, to crush the rebels and cut off their supply routes.

More than 40 foreign troops, most of them Americans, have been killed in the insurgency this year.

Reuters CH GC1118